Interesting concept. Will still probably have the shrinkage issues you get with PBT if the outer shell is pure PBT. I think folks that are using a hybrid probably are going in the right direction to get the best of ABS color vibrancy without the shine.
I think Ducky has been doing PBT + [ other stuff ] for a while - though I think their PBT shell might also itself be a blend. Not sure if the other plastic is ABS, POM, or maybe both.
They seem pretty resistant to shine; I’ve been using a couple of those sets for quite a while and don’t really have any, aside from a little on my space bar - and I tend to brush my finger across it sideways, which usually shines the bar up really fast. Like if I’m having fun on Monkeytype, my GMK spacebar will be shiny by the end of the first day.
Kono marked up Shoko R2 over 44%. They tend to be a fairly egregious offender in this regard.
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I had a nice chat with @illness072, designer of the Mammoth, a quite unique split combining a slight splay with the Willow layout and concealing most of the electronic parts in the palm rests:
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Rama tax. And no reviews from the community. We’re expected to take a leap of faith for a very expensive switch.
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Does anyone have additional meta data on these beauts? I couldn’t seem to find anything. Yup, these checked a lot of boxes for me.
https://heebiekeebies.com/collections/switches/products/blaecks?variant=41732200693936
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Hmm, I’m intrigued as well but you’re right - it’s surprisingly difficult to find more info about these.
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Ooo. Def interested to know how good those molds are. I do love me a stable switch.
Also kinda neat - the Raeds and Naevies are now monochrome:
Great colors.
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AE reference upgrades to both the Raeds and Naevies on their site but I’m trying to figure out if the monochrome versions are those newer variations (2.0?) or whether those are still to come. I’ve sort of been holding off on trying them because I knew they were coming at some point.
Stabies are in-stock at Heebie-Keebies!
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If the new raeds have fixed the problem with stems breaking and kept the same sound signature i have no doubt they will be my favourite switch when i get my hands on them.
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I know right. I need some smarty pants to do a comparison between these, H1s, and Oil Kings. I’m on the fence for what the best all black linear might be these days. Forgive me if I missed any notable mentions, but those are the only ones I’ve truly picked apart for myself.
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I’d even take just some basic info about the switch. Manufacturer, component materials, spring details, etc. I don’t realistically expect to get all of that but having a bit more information for context would be nice.
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I see a few requests for metadata about the switch here. It should be available on the site under the “Specs” tab for each item. I’ll do a quick update to the description because it seems like there may be some visibility issues. These are v2.0. You’ll notice material changes vs v1.5. I don’t think AEBoards has revealed the manu so I’ll keep it private until told otherwise.
Here’s the information copied over for reference:
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Standard/Extended Pole Linear/Tactile
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Nylon top housings
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Nylon bottom housings
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POM stems
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Factory lubricated double-stage springs
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Standard/Shortened total travel distance (Raeds/Naevies are shortended, Blaecks are standard)
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Factory Lubed? Yes
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Appreciated! It looks like the Raeds are already about gone 
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Masterpiece, Noire, and Dolch R5 extras up on Project. All kits/artisans available at the time of this post 
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I regret checking this thread. I just had to get Noire and Dolch + Hangul. 
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I really like Noire.
I will say some recent GMK sets of mine including Noire and Minimal have had some “swirling” on some keys, usually Shifts, for example. Not so much a swirl pattern but some kind of inconsistency in the plastic that makes it reflect light differently than the surrounding plastic. These areas have a liquid-flow shape to them, and they do kind of downgrade the sets for me.
Still great, but on light and dark sets alike I’ve seen this and at least to me, it does kind of stand out. From some angles it’s not visible, but from others it looks like the cap is dirty or something. Since I brought it up, here’s what I’m talking about:
I’ve increased the contrast for the purposes of easy demonstration; the other caps here have normal specular reflections (shine), but the Shift key has odd mottling made visible by inconsistent specular reflection around the legend.
It is kind of a bummer seeing that on a set I otherwise really like especially considering the price. It’s only on a few keys but unfortunately it tends to be on essential ones.
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Now these Blaecks sound much more up my alley than Raeds! Is the manu still JWK? If so I gotta grab some of these. Nylon housings/POM stem/full travel are my fav JWK switches, toss in switches from fresh molds & you got a winner in my book!
1 Like